Favorite Schools

Favorite Teams

Was a mountain lion struck and killed by a truck near Port Byron recently?

cougargood.jpg

This photo of what appears to be a mountain lion, was taken with a cell phone. Rumors say that this animal was struck by a truck recently by Port Byron. Apart from this photo, though, there's no proof.
(Submitted photo)

Port Byron, N.Y. - I've spent the past few days running down a rumor that has been circulating around Cayuga County that a mountain lion was recently hit by a motor vehicle and killed near the village of Port Byron.

I could not verify that. In addition, the photo that was sent to me showing the animal that allegedly was killed was identical to a photograph taken in Illinois of a mountain lion (cougar) that was shot out there.

I originally heard the Port Byron story from two readers who approached me independently at Saturday's Big East Camping and Outdoors Show at the Turning Stone Events Center in Verona. Then in church Sunday morning, another man approached me and wanted to know if I had heard anything about a mountain lion that was hit by a school bus recently near Port Byron.

This week I was sent a photo of what was supposed to be the mountain lion in the back of someone's truck. I could not find out,though, who took the photo or where it was taken.

However, shortly after posting this story. A reader made me aware of a story posted on chicago.cbslocal.com of a mountain lion shot in the western Illinois town of Morrison. The photo on that story looks identical to the one that was sent to me.

Corey Rooker, transportation supervisor for the Port Byron School District, said he also heard the rumor that the animal was reportedly struck by a school bus. He said he was approached on the street this past weekend by a local resident inquiring about the veracity of the report.

Rooker said he looked into it this week and was told it was not a bus driver who hit the animal. He was told that it was a pickup truck and that it happened sometime around March 22. He was unable to find out from this sources, though, who was driving that truck, or where the carcass (if there is one) is at this time.

"I heard it was hit on Route 38, near Guidone farm," he said, adding he first saw the picture of the animal above "on Facebook" and that it had been shared by "a friend, of a friend of a friend."